AKTIBA-TEX

Context

Population ageing is creating new food-related needs and opportunities for innovation within the Silver Economy. In the Basque Country, people aged over 65 already account for 23% of the population, making issues such as dysphagia and chewing difficulties increasingly relevant.

Dysphagia affects approximately 13% of people over the age of 65 and may affect up to 51% of people living in residential care. In addition to making eating more difficult, it is associated with a higher risk of malnutrition, dehydration and reduced quality of life.

Although texture modification is one of the main strategies used to make eating safer, currently available products still have limitations in terms of nutritional quality, sensory acceptance, standardisation and ease of identification by consumers and professionals.

AKTIBA-TEX addresses this challenge by creating a framework that integrates scientific knowledge, food technology, nutrition, texture characterisation, consumer behaviour and market insights to facilitate the development of new solutions for older people.

Objectives

The aim of AKTIBA-TEX is to promote innovation and technology transfer in food solutions for older people, providing tools to help companies in Bizkaia develop, validate and position products adapted to dysphagia, easy chewing and other age-related needs.

The project will develop an innovation methodology for improving foods aimed at older people with dysphagia, structured around several key areas:

• Development and standardisation of texture-modified foods.
• Promotion of cognitive and immune health through safe, nutritious and sensory-optimised products.
• Greater food-chain sustainability by supporting innovation and local production.

To achieve this, the project will focus on:

• Developing a strategic innovation guide or playbook covering the formulation, processing, validation, labelling and marketing of food products for older people.
• Defining the scientific and technical requirements for a specific standardisation system for foods adapted to dysphagia and easy chewing, aligned where appropriate with international frameworks such as IDDSI.
• Analysing consumption patterns for foods with specific textures among different population groups in the Basque Country and Spain to identify unmet needs and market opportunities.
• Integrating nutritional, sensory, technological and sustainability criteria to support the development of solutions tailored to the needs of older people.

The project will also design a strategic guide to support food companies in Bizkaia in the formulation, labelling, validation and commercialisation of new products for older people. It will also address the conceptual design of a specific labelling model for dysphagia-friendly foods to make them easier to classify and recognise in the market. In this way, AKTIBA-TEX will support technology transfer, business competitiveness and improvements in the quality of life of older people.

Expected results

AKTIBA-TEX will deliver three main tools to support business innovation:

• An innovation guide for dysphagia-adapted foods aimed at companies, including criteria and recommendations for the development and validation of new products.
• A dataset on consumption patterns to identify market gaps, consumer segments and opportunities for new texture-modified food products.
• A conceptual framework for identifying and categorising food solutions adapted to dysphagia, making them easier to classify and recognise in the market.

These results will provide companies with a more structured basis for making decisions on product development, validation and positioning in the senior market.

Expected impact

AKTIBA-TEX aims to contribute to the creation of a food innovation ecosystem focused on older people, helping companies in Bizkaia transform scientific and technological knowledge into products tailored to real consumer needs.

The project can support the development of foods that are safer, more nutritious, more acceptable from a sensory perspective and easier to identify, while also creating new business opportunities in a growing market segment.

In addition, establishing a common language and shared development and validation criteria can strengthen the competitiveness and innovation capacity of the food industry, facilitate knowledge transfer between the scientific, business and health and social care sectors, and help improve the diet and quality of life of older people.

Funding